1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to buckets, particularly large buckets (on the order of 5 or 6 gallon size). More particularly, the present invention relates to a selectively raisable shield for a bucket which serves to retain roller spray within the confines of the bucket when a paint roller is being cleaned by spinning.
2. Description of the Related Art
One tool frequently used by painters is a paint roller tool. The rollers thereof become laden with paint during the painting process. Since the roller is not usually worn-out by a single usage, a painter must thoroughly clean the roller if it is desired to reuse the roller in the future. If the roller is not clean any remaining paint will harden, thereby matting at least a portion of the roller nap, could possibly contaminate the next used paint color, or may cause flecks of the dried paint in and on the roller to be left behind as unsightly specks on a surface being painted.
Rollers are able to hold a vast quantity of paint. One method of cleaning rollers relies upon centrifugal force to cause paint to be flung from a roller. Centrifugal cleaning involves spinning the roller at a very fast rate, whereupon the paint is caused to fly outwardly from the roller. In order to generate the rotation speed necessary for centrifugal cleaning to work well, a commercially available spinning tool is used to clean a roller. The commercially available spinning tool (which is depicted in FIG. 1) includes a barrel, a handle, a screw member connected with the handle and threadably engaged with respect to the barrel, and a roller holder which is bearingly engaged with the barrel opposite the handle and spinably connected with the screw member. When the handle is pushed in toward the barrel, the roller holder spins and continues spinning even after the handle has stopped moving, whereby the centrifugal force generated thereby causes a roller placed thereupon to become cleaned. Problematically, the centrifugal nature in which the paint drops leave the roller entails paint spraying everywhere. Accordingly, painters try carefully to place the roller as far inside their bucket as possible before spinning it with a commercial spinning tool, with less than perfect results. Inevitably, some paint flies centrifugally to a place where it shouldn't be (i.e., someplace outside the bucket).
Accordingly, what is needed is some way in which a bucket can serve to retain centrifugal paint spray when a roller is cleaned with a spinning tool, without detracting from its ability to function as a bucket for other purposes.